BethRackliffeLMF

//Learning Motivation and Fun//
 //View// the assignment page //for a more detailed explanation of this project.

In this exercise, you'll collect data from our database of interviews about fun and learning. Use this template and the data to create 5 generalizations for what you observed. Your generalizations should answer the questions//


 * //What makes learning fun and engaging?//
 * //What are the implications for your own teaching and design work//

3) High school students almost universally reported that physical activity was an element in the experiences they called "fun".//** //Bill W, for example described learning beginning archery skills at boy scout camp. Sallie Forth recalled a social studies class in which "we recreated in chicken wire and paper mache the battlefield at Shiloh and spent several class periods reconstructing the events there." All together there were 24 experiences that took place during high school years and all but 1 included physical activity. In most cases (19 out of 24) these activities also required creative or critical thinking.//
 * //Example:

What are your 5 generalizations?
Before I sat down and started searching the LMF database, I decided to hypothesized as to what I thought the data would show. I arrived at 5 conjectures:  1)   Most 2-9 year olds would remember a learning experience that was kinesthetic in nature.   2)   Males would be more likely to remember a kinesthetic learning experience than females.  3)  Males would be more likely to enjoy and remember a kinesthetic experience than females.   4)   Females would be more likely to enjoy and remember a cooperative learning experience than males.  5)  Students enjoy a challenge.   Conjecture 1: Since children have so much energy, I assumed that people relating an experience that happened when they were young would remember something that was kinesthetic in nature. On searching for interviews about an experience between the age of 2 and 9, I found that of the 10 students whose videos came up, 7 of them were clearly kinesthetic. The experiences ranged from dance to welding to panning for gold. Trevor (Trevor103) panned for gold on the school playground because the teacher had taken the time to bury treasure in the sand. That is an incredibly “hands-on” approach to a topic that is required instruction in elementary school. Even the videos that were completely kinesthetic did involve doing something rather than observing something. For example Theresa (Teri143), recalls going to the movies which sparked her desire to read. Although the movies are not kinesthetic, it is outside of the classroom setting. Conjecture 2: <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Since males seem to be more often pushed towards sports, I assumed that more of the people who had a kinesthetic learning experience would be male. When I researched my hypothesis, I actually found very little difference between the two with a slight leaning toward females and kinesthetic. I failed to remember that many females are involved in dance, and dance was a commonly referred to experience. Arvick155, Aurora137, and Kamina146 all mentioned dancing and cheerleading experiences that were memorable. There were a number of females though that discussed sports experiences too. There were 59 students who listed high kinesthetic experiences – 28 male and 31 female. Even amongst the males, many of them referred to highly kinesthetic experiences that were not sports based. Adam (adam57) recalled being able to weld and a trade school he attended. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Conjecture 3: <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Since my own stepson is so driven by competition right now at the tender age of 5, I assumed that more males would recall an experience that was highly competitive than females. The results were almost even. Of the 32 who talked about highly competitive experiences, 14 were male and 18 were female. A lot of the male competitive experiences involved team competitions. Jack124 mentions a literal “tug of war” competition used to simulate the Revolutionary War. Female experience ranged from team competitions to self-motivated competition. I especially found Linda52’s idea of competition interesting, as she competed with the clock to get herself and children ready to go. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Conjecture 4: <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">As a middle school teacher, I know females at that age tend to be social in nature. So my fourth conjecture was that students who listed an experience as highly cooperative would tend to be female. In reality, there was no overwhelming difference between females and males. Of the 61 videos that talk about a cooperative experience, 27 were male and 34 were female. So it really was a fairly even split. There was a lot of variety in the cooperative efforts though including dramatic pieces (Asu60), dance (Aurora137, Lana36), and sports (MinhTamChau36). <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Conjecture 5: <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Lastly, I wanted to evaluate whether students really want to take the easy way out. I analyzed how much challenge played a part in an experience being memorable. Easy is not better. The majority of the experiences people chose to talk about were considered highly challenging (69). Fifty-five people listed the challenge level at moderate. Only 21 of the people interviewed listed something that was considered easy. So people do love a challenge, or at least challenging someone does seem to make the experience worth remembering. As with Barbara44 and her skiing lessons, most people enjoyed learning how to do something that they had never done before. Bob59 described the experience of learning to play a difficult piano piece as “satisfying.” It may be more frustrating to learn something challenging, but the reward is that much greater.

So as a teacher, I need to make sure that when I design instruction for my students I utilize the apparently innate desire of students to be challenge and to work together. If I can do this, I will be creating a more inviting and meaningful learning environment. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">